CES 2011

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CES 2011
Peachtree Pleads for Sanity
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 08, 2011  | 
With the cute musicBox desktop amp and iDAC on display, both featuring pure digital iPod docks and selling for about a grand, Peachtree Audio's David Solomon has a lot to talk about. But the theme he is most passionate about is Apple TV. Videophiles see it as a 720p-limited video streamer. But to Solomon, it's a $99 audio streamer that "could save our industry." He says that if the audio industry doesn't get on board with the way music lovers choose to listen today, it will slowly evaporate, as those listeners gravitate to audio products sold at computer hardware stores.
CES 2011
Polk Blackstone Has Amiable Personality
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 07, 2011  | 
Polk Audio's Blackstone series comes in the three versions shown including wireless sub not shown. The demo featured smooth and gentle mids. For more information see our review coming a few months after you read this.
CEDIA 2011
Polk In-Ceiling Packs Hidden Punch
Mark Fleischmann  |  Sep 08, 2011  | 
Each of these three in-ceiling models has a concealed woofer mounted at a diagonal. It fires through apertures at the front, where there are also tweeter and midrange drivers. Prices range from $400-1000/pair with ascending woofer sizes from 6 to 8.6 inches. Two buttons tailor the speaker to the space. They include a notch filter and a circuit that adjusts for room reflections.
CES 2011
Polk Takes New Approach to Surround Channels
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 07, 2011  | 
The Polk FX Wireless Surround ($399) assigns surround-channel duty to a single speaker that sits on the floor behind the sofa. We heard it and it worked, though it worked better when we weren't standing over it with a camera. If surround aversion is a disease, this may be the cure, and quite an audacious one. Please note that the foot isn't ours. We wear Hush Puppies.
CES 2011
PSB Shows Imagine Mini
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 07, 2011  | 
The PSB Imagine Mini builds on the success of the Imagine line with a four-inch clay ceramic and polypropylene woofer and one-inch aluminum tweeter in a satellite-size enclosure. Bracket (shown at right) or stands optional. Price $700/pair, shipping April.
CES 2011
PSB's Mini Me
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 08, 2011  |  First Published: Jan 09, 2011  | 
At $700/pair, PSB's Imagine Mini (second from left, on stand) may turn some heads. It did not have any deep bass, but was clean as far down as it went, and even when played loud (though not unreasonably loud) did not fall to pieces. With a good subwoofer, five of them plus a spare (unfortunately they are sold only in pairs), or four with an Imagine center, could make for a sweet, small room home theater setup.
CES 2011
Revel Does Ellis in Style
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 06, 2011  |  First Published: Jan 07, 2011  | 
The Revel Ultima2 Salon2 speakers were driven by Mark Levinson electronics. Nothing new here either, but with a simple piano-bass-drums recording featuring Ellis Marsalis (not even an SACD, just a CD) the system sounded so natural we could have sat there all day. Total pricing just south of $122,000.
CES 2011
Samsung 3D Monitor / 3DTV
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 07, 2011  | 
No model number, price, or availability date was given for this Samsung 27-inch PC monitor/3DTV combination. But it can handle all 3D formats (the image on screen shows the side-by-side format in its native form before it's processed into a single, unsqueezed 3D image. The display includes an antenna input (it has a built-in tuner) and an HDMI port. You will need active glasses to watch 3D on it (it is not autostereoscopic).
CES 2011
Samsung Blu-ray Players
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 09, 2010  | 

Samsung's new Blu-ray players are an impressive lot, with four new models that boast boot and load times of 15 seconds. All but the entry-level BDP-C5500 have built-in wireless DLNA and Internet capabilities with 1GB of internal memory (the C5500 is "WiFi-ready"). The BDP-C7500 is a high-style, wall-mountable design with a 2-channel analog output, while the C6500 has a 7.1-channel analog output.

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CES 2011
Samsung C9000 Remote
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 11, 2010  | 

Samsung's flagship C6000 ultra-thin LED LCD TV provides a super-cool, full-color touchscreen remote. In addition to controlling the TV, it can also display a live video signal, though I can't see why you'd want to watch the remote when you have a big, beautiful TV in the same room.

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CES 2011
Samsung Goes to 75-inches
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 07, 2011  | 
No price was in sight for this jumbo Samsung 75" LCD/LED 3DTV. But it's edge lit, utilizes Samsung's Micro Precision Dimming, and should hit the shops by the second half of 2011.
CES 2011
Samsung LCDs
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 09, 2010  | 

Samsung's booth was awash in new LCD TVs—no less than eight lines of slim LED edge-lit sets and six lines of conventional CCFL models. As many have expected, there are no new LED backlit sets, which Samsung claims are too expensive and power hungry for the current consumer marketplace.

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CES 2011
Samsung Leads 3D Parade
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 06, 2011  | 
Samsung went all Opra on us with it's sit-down, let's talk press conference. They announced that one million 3DTVs were sold in the US in 2010, well under predictions but ahead of the rate that many other new technologies have achieved in their first year. About 35 million TVs are sold in the US each year, however, so that's actually a pretty small percentage. Nevertheless Samsung claimed a 70% market share of 3DTV sales, and this year 3DTVs make up 60% of the company's new HD lineup.

Samsung is going with the flow in using "Smart" as a catch phrase this year for many of its products. The company expects to sell 6 million 3DTVs this year, two thirds of them Smart TVs. The new gee-whiz feature in the D7000 and D8000 sets is an ultra thin frame, barely 0.2" wide (see photo). In addition, Samsung's new active 3D glasses sport an ultra svelt, and it's said far more comfortable design.

Samsung's new BDD 7500 3D Blu-ray player is as ultra thin as the new TVs, and incorporates its own built-in 2D-to-3D conversion.

CES 2011
Samsung Plasmas
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 09, 2010  | 

I'm very happy to report that Samsung is still bullish on plasma, introducing three new slim lines and two standard-depth lines. All five lines feature a new Clear Image Panel, in which the outer filter glass is affixed directly to the plasma panel with no air gap. This allows them to be thinner and achieve lower black levels in the presence of ambient light.

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CES 2011
Samsung Projector Does 3D
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 07, 2011  | 
No price, delivery date, or model number was offered on Samsung's 3D DLP video projector. It didn't look all that good, but possible culprits include the highly variable program material, the fact that the side of the booth opposite the screen was open to the well-lit show floor, the 3.0 gain screen (don't move off-center!), and seriously blown-out whites. But it did look much better than this prize-worthy photo.

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